Benjamin Dutreux : « Top 10 is a little cherry on the cake »

I don't really realize it, my goal was to do the best I could to go hard and look after things and in the end it's an excellent result. The Vendée Globe has really changed now when you see the level of the sporting field today, it's really high-level competition. I humbly told myself that I would like to make a Top 10 but deep down I asked myself "is it really possible?" I put my guts into it and it ended up paying off. I'm just super proud because we're still not a big team and we're still moving mountains. We did it on the last Vendée Globe and now again today, showing you have to believe in your dreams, that there's a beginning to everything and that you have to know how to get started. And now I think Tanguy le Turquais followed my previous VG story and it motivated him to get started, I hope it will inspire others.

 With a lot of determination and the people around us, we are capable of great things. Today we finished the Vendée Globe and in the Top 10! It's almost a little cherry on the cake, and a nice cherry. Every sailor who lives this adventure, I can guarantee you that whether he is first or last, he experiences crazy things. Here we can see that we did not have the same wind conditions as the first, they probably had their difficulties because they put a remarkable, incredible intensity to it that I would like to share one day, it really makes you want to, I won't hide it from you, it really made you want to. Everyone had their fight, in all the groups, everyone fights like crazy in their world and today we are all going to share our world with all the people who follow us, our partners, we have crazy stories to tell, it is the sea that gives them to us, the environment! It's immense!

I thought I would see everyone again yesterday, I had a difficult night last night but at least I was able to talk to Clarisse and I feel a little less like a traitor for not leaving her all alone “you’ll manage to get through, I’ll be all alone at sea”, I almost felt bad about it, we’ve been together for a while, I wanted to go home but I couldn’t see myself leaving her alone either… It’s also a great story to think that we finally crossed paths last night, she had a hard time too. We can’t control everything, we have to constantly adapt. The world teaches us that but at sea it’s in the XXL version. It’s a great way to learn about life.

I didn’t expect so many people here. I thought I would arrive quietly, in a small group, I knew I was expected but with so many people and such a welcome for a simple sailor who went to do his job! But the craziest thing is that I'm finishing here, I'm from Sables d'Olonne, I'm from Vendée, I dream of the channel this time because the last time it was COVID, everyone had defied the restrictions, there were still people and here, boom,, once again, I am still not free to arrive home peacefully. I can't wait to go back and probably with other boats so it's going to be great!

It's a new adventure that begins, I'm told it's extraordinary. For the moment I have a hard time telling myself what could be more extraordinary than what we're doing here, but when I see all the love we have for a "belly" for the moment I have no doubt that with Mathilde, my partner, it's going to be a crazy adventure, I can't wait to experience it. I am back and here in fact... I hardly even recognized her! We didn't communicate much, let's live happily, let's live hidden, but here I am, I'm going to be the father of a little boy and I thought about it a lot during my whole race even though it doesn't exist yet, it's not tangible. It was something that surely changed the while race!